Monday Miscellany

You know that "Flintstones"-based cereal "Fruity Pebbles"?  Named after Fred's adorable daughter ("na pa goo wa Da-da?")?  In the store today, I noticed a "spin-off" cereal: "Pebbles' Boulders."  Somehow, this made me feel dirty.

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If you want a job done right, do it yourself.  Except, in my case, if the job is automotive repair.  Then, you're better off leaving things to professionals.  Else you might end up with three tires and an extra muffler.

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Today's Times provides a wealth of vocabularical inspiration.  First, an article about neglect and/or mistreatment of thoroughbreds at casino-affiliated racetracks, led me to investigate what, precisely, constitutes the difference between "necropsy" and "autopsy."  Turns out a "necropsy" is an examination of dead tissue, specifically non-human animal tissue, while an "autopsy" is what happens after your car finally breaks down for the last time.

Ba-dum-bump!

No, but seriously, the two words are theoretically interchangeable, as they both mean an examination of that which is dead.  However, "necropsy" generally refers to animals, whereas "autopsies" are generally performed on humans.  The "auto" in "autopsy" means "self," and so an "autopsy" is something people perform on "themselves," i.e., other humans.  Given the meaning of "auto" as "self," though, one could conclude that "necropsy" would, in fact, be a better term for what is done to human bodies, as very few people--only about six in recorded history--have actually conducted autopsies on themselves.

The SAT word of the day comes from an article about American forces participating in the search for accused--well, acknowledged--war criminal and lunatic Joseph Kony:

The Central African Republic would be an excellent place to disappear. Its national army is one of the region’s smallest and weakest. Its terrain is primordially thick. And its infrastructure is shambolic.

In case you're wondering (and let's face it, you are), "shambolic" means "completely disorganized" or "chaotic"; I suspect it may be related to the word "shambling."  So, why not just say "completely disorganized" or "chaotic"?  The former would be perfectly appropriate in any mainstream newspaper, and the latter satisfies the requirement to be Times-ily literate without causing people to rush to their dictionaries.  Perhaps the use of arcane diction is meant to suggest the extremely complicated nature of the task our soldiers' face?  Or perhaps the writer is just showing off.  Somhow, I suspect the latter.

In the excerpt above, given the sentences leading up to it, readers can assume that "shambolic" means something negative, but that's about it.  There's no reason for one to assume it means "chaotic": It could mean "deteriorating," "non-existent," "sub-par," or a number of other things.  I don't mind the use of complicated verbiage that contributes to a sesquipedalian vocabulary.  Nevertheless, if a writer wants to employ words that are likely to be unfamiliar to most readers he or she should make sure that the context clearly reveals the word's meaning.